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The Irish Independent reports that Ministers have
been ordered to identify potential spending cuts worth €10.5bn from their
departmental budgets, including reductions in staff numbers and social welfare.

And government departments have been instructed not to hold back from coming
up with ways to reduce the number of workers in their area.

Although the Government is due to reduce expenditure by €2.1bn next year,
departments are being asked to come up with a menu of cuts five times as big.
Cuts which are not implemented in December's Budget 2012 are expected to feed
into reductions to be brought in over the following three years.

The instructions are to find savings worth 15pc to 20pc of spending, or €1 in
every €5 spent, under the Fine Gael and Labour Party review of all departmental
spending.

The revelation comes as Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin
publicly admitted some of his colleagues were not pulling their weight in coming
up with cuts. But Mr Howlin is refusing to name the cabinet ministers involved.

The admission indicates that Mr Howlin is failing in his task of ensuring his
colleagues realise the difficult job facing the Government in bringing in next
year's Budget.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan is due to publish a plan in the coming months
that will show the reductions in spending by departments over the next four
years.

Next year, Budget 2012 will contain a package of €3.6bn in tax hikes and
spending cuts -- €1.5bn in tax and €2.1bn in cuts.

However, a memo from the minister's office says each department must come up
with savings "by reference to the 'rule of thumb' 15-20pc level".

The letter from the Department of Public Expenditure's secretary general,
Robert Watt, says the overall budget targets are subject to final government
decision.

"You should bear in mind that to afford the Government maximum scope for
decisions about prioritising resources in certain areas, we should not be
constrained from putting forward a full and comprehensive set of savings
options, even where this goes beyond the indicative ceiling," he said in the
letter sent two months ago.

Among the ways to reduce numbers listed were
"rationalising schemes and
programmes, moving to e-payment rather than traditional processing, outsourcing,
and identification of specific areas where incentivised exit schemes may be
appropriate".

"The question of how to deal with surplus staff identified in this way --
e.g. costs of exit packages where necessary -- will be dealt with centrally by
the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and should not in itself be a
bar to your full consideration of this important aspect of the comprehensive
spending review," his memo says.

Getting rid of the quangos already in line for the chop is described as
"early wins" being put forward by departments.

"On balance, it may be appropriate to put forward a more comprehensive
overall package of agency rationalisation measures -- both a speeding-up of
existing proposals and announcement of some new proposals -- as tangible 'early
wins', while signalling that broader issues around agency rationalisation will
be looked at critically in the comprehensive spending review," the memo says.

The level of detail shows Mr Howlin and his officials have had extensive
contacts with his colleagues in other departments over the past number of
months.

Yet he is now complaining that some departments are failing to present
adequate spending reduction plans.

The minister has repeatedly talked up his involvement in the spending review.

A spokesperson for Mr Howlin said last night the minister would not be naming
the departments concerned.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny's spokesman said the spending review was an ongoing
process.

"The Government remains determined to bring it to a successful conclusion,"
he said.

The Irish Independent also reports that frantic
efforts by banks to tie down the security attached to thousands of NAMA loans
caused a backlog in the Companies Office last year, it has emerged.

The transfer of property loans to NAMA throughout 2010 forced banks to secure
the collateral behind a huge amount of loans in a short space of time.

It has previously emerged that many banks had inadequate security and poor
documentation backing up their loans.

"An increase in the number and complexity of submissions was recorded in
2010 in line with Irish bank activity in transferring certain loan books to NAMA
as well as reviews by lenders of their security arrangements generally."

Castigated

The office said banks had to file additional submissions on the basis that
action would be taken against certain firms.

NAMA has castigated the banks on several occasions for the poor quality of
the security underpinning certain loans.

In some cases NAMA has discounted the value of loans by 100pc.

The scale of property lending from 2001 to 2007 meant that banks were often
stretched beyond capacity to arrange and secure all collateral.

"There was an increase in the number of judgment mortgages received from 156
in 2009 to 268 in 2010," said the office.

"As a result of these issues, processing of submissions within 20 working
days was not achieved in all cases in 2010 but the backlog is being
systematically worked through and additional resources have since been
redeployed," it added.

The Irish Times reports that there has been a huge
increase in requests from families for assistance with the cost of sending their
children back to school.

Almost 200,000 parents have applied for the back-to-school clothing and
footwear allowance, 30,000 more than the Government had budgeted for. The
allowances are worth up to €305 per child.

Requests are arriving in welfare offices at the rate of 1,000 a day and may
continue to be made until the end of September. The economic downturn and the
rise in unemployment means significantly more parents now qualify for the
means-tested payment.

While the majority of claims were automatically paid in June, officials are
still trying to process more than 40,000 requests for assistance.

A spokeswoman for Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said 50
officials were working “flat out” to process them, but conceded that many will
not be made in time for the start of the school year.

Some €82 million was set aside for the allowance in 2011. The surge in demand
is likely to cost the State at least €12 million more than it budgeted for,
though officials have stressed all valid claims will be paid.

Children’s charity Barnardos expressed concern yesterday that delays in
processing applications were putting further financial pressure on parents.
“This delay is increasing the likelihood of some parents having to go into
arrears on other bills or resorting to money lenders in order to have all the
school materials for their children,” said Barnardos chief executive Fergus
Finlay.

The Society of St Vincent de Paul has suggested that schools should allow
pupils to return to school without their uniforms because of the delay in
processing payments.

The number seeking back-to-school welfare payments has increased dramatically
in recent years. There were 88,000 applicants in 2007, rising to 160,000 last
year. Yesterday, this figure had risen to 198,000 and is on course to exceed
200,000 later this week.

The back-to-school allowance is worth €200-€305 per child, depending on their
age.

The Irish Times also reports that the German finance
ministry has denied that the looming reform of the euro zone bailout fund (EFSF)
would put it beyond control of national parliaments.

As EU politicians hurry to stabilise the euro zone, new data out yesterday
suggested its economic motor, the German economy, was slowing down faster than
expected.

Last month, faced with euro zone turbulence, EU leaders agreed a political
deal to give the EFSF bailout fund new powers to provide pre-emptory credit
lines for states in financial difficulty as well as credit via member states for
struggling banks.

Now that political deal is being translated into a legal document to be put
before national parliaments.

A 41-page leaked draft proposal appears to allow the EFSF’s directorate award
itself competences in the areas of “price formation, political conditions,
terms of use and documentation”.

In addition, a revamped EFSF would also be allowed “in exceptional
circumstances” to purchase sovereign bonds directly from financial markets or
issuing states.

German officials said yesterday that the early draft proposal was subject to
change, had been circulated to the Bundestag to keep MPs informed and would not
curtail politicians’ control function.

The final version of the document will be put to national parliaments next
month, along with a second aid package for Greece.

The new EFSF would see its guarantee limit raised from €440 billion to €770
billion, and would assume the bond-buying role recently played by the European
Central Bank.

Yesterday German president Christian Wulff attacked as “legally
questionable” the Frankfurt bank’s purchase of €110 billion worth of euro
zone sovereign bonds since May last year.

“I regard the huge buy-up of government bonds of individual states ... as
legally questionable,” said Mr Wulff to an international conference in
southern Germany.

The remarks are in line with reservations expressed in recent months by the
Bundesbank.

The Irish Examiner reports that a split has emerged
in the Cabinet over calls for a national debt relief scheme for troubled
mortgage holders.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore last night rejected suggestions from Labour ministers
that the Government should consider a wide-scale debt forgiveness system.

His comments come after it emerged lenders have begun writing off debts for
borrowers after taking back their homes, through talks with advocacy group New
Beginning.

But the Labour leader ruled out the Government financing any extensive write-off
of debts.

"I think some kind of a blanket writing-off of mortgage debt, which has been
suggested by some, is not what the Government is considering," he told RTÉ.

"What we are developing are proposals that will be fair to those who are in
difficulty paying their mortgage, fair to those who are paying their mortgages
and, of course, fairest to the taxpayer who is going to have to fund it."

Economist Morgan Kelly last week said 5 billion to €6bn would help end the
mortgage crisis.

Mr Gilmore’s comments are at odds with other Cabinet and party members.

Labour minister Joan Burton yesterday said the Government should consider a debt
resolution scheme similar to one in Iceland. The Social Protection Minister said
mortgage repayments could be based on the value of the home rather than the
original loan.

The Icelandic government and lenders have agreed to reduce the cost of certain
mortgages to 110% of the value of the property.

Housing Minister Willie Penrose earlier this week said it would be
"foolhardy" not to look at a wide-scale debt forgiveness scheme.

A Government-appointed committee, also looking at measures to assist borrowers,
is due to report shortly.

Jobs resigns as Apple chief executive -- Chief operating officer Tim
Cook to take up the reins; “Steve’s the last of the great builders,”
Roger McNamee, a Silicon Valley financier, said recently. “What makes him
different is that he’s creating jobs and economic activity out of thin air while
just about every other CEO in America is working out ways to cut costs and lay
people off.”

Swiss tax deal to raise UK revenue - - Up to £5bn could be garnered from
undeclared accounts; Taxes on future income will be withheld at a rate of 48 per
cent, corresponding to the
top 50 per cent rate that now applies to Britain’s highest earners. A
one-off levy of between 19 and 34 per cent will be applied to all Swiss accounts
held by UK residents, with the exact percentage to be determined by the size of
the deposit and how long it has been maintained.

Google reaches $500m deal over drug ads -- Resolves criminal probe
into unlicensed pharmaceuticals; The internet search company was aware as long
ago as 2003 that it was illegal in most cases for pharmacies based in Canada to
ship prescription drugs into the US, according to an agreement between
prosecutors and Google that was made public on Wednesday. Despite this, Google
continued to accept the adverts on its AdWords search advertising system, and
advised pharmacies on how to make messages more effective, until it learnt of
the criminal inquiry in 2009, the agreement added.

Gold drops $160 an ounce in two days - - CME demands larger good-faith
deposits for futures; Spot gold prices fell to a session low of $1,750.55 per
troy ounce, down $160.91 from the all-time high of $1,911.46 a troy ounce set in
late trading on Monday. The previous largest two-day absolute drop was set in
January 1980.

Access to the New York Times online is free up to 20 articles per month. For
subscription information, click here

Without Its Master of Design, Apple Will Face Challenges - - No
immediate changes to Apple products will be discernible with Mr. Jobs’s
departure, but questions may arise in the future; In his early years at
Apple, before he was forced out in 1985, Mr. Jobs was notoriously
hands-on, meddling with details and berating colleagues. But later,
first at Pixar, the computer-animation studio he co-founded, and in his
second stint at Apple, he relied more on others, listening more and
trusting members of his design and business teams.

U.S. May Back Refinance Plan for Mortgages - - The Obama
administration is considering a program to let millions of homeowners
refinance at today’s rates; One proposal would allow millions of
homeowners with government-backed mortgages to refinance them at today’s
lower interest rates, about 4 percent, according to two people briefed
on the administration’s discussions who asked not to be identified
because they were not allowed to talk about the information.

Editorial: Gov. Perry’s Cash Machine - - Gov. Rick Perry wants a
smaller Washington but has enlarged Texas government to his
political benefit; There are nearly 600 boards, commissions,
authorities and departments in Texas, many of which are of little
use to the public and should have long been shut down or
consolidated. They are of great use to the governor, who more than
any predecessor has created thousands of potential appointments for
beneficent backers and several pro-business funds that have been
generous to allies.

Despite Gene Patent Victory, Myriad Genetics Faces Challenges -
- Myriad Genetics is leveraging its huge database on gene mutations
to defend its franchise in testing for breast cancer risk; it is
only a matter of time before the company’s business faces severe
challenges, some experts say, because that $3,340 test is
technologically outmoded, incomplete and too costly.

How Much More Can the Fed Help the Economy? Catherine Rampell has a look at
the tools the Federal Reserve has left, and their likelihood of success; The Fed
could also lower the interest rate it pays banks on their reserves. Maybe this
would encourage them to hold less cash and increase their lending. There is some
debate about how effective this measure would be. If demand for credit remains
low, encouraging banks to lend more may not be helpful. Many economists have
suggested that the most powerful tool the Fed might employ would be an
announcement that it is raising its medium-term target for inflation.